


inside us, only stars.

by theappleppielifestyle



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, also they did something to make tony's jaw heal quicker idk, but everything's okay, steve gets mind-controlled and hurts tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-08
Updated: 2014-06-08
Packaged: 2018-02-03 21:02:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1756951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theappleppielifestyle/pseuds/theappleppielifestyle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve hurts Tony while under the influence of mind control and deals with the aftermath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	inside us, only stars.

Steve wakes up and reaches across the bed for Tony on automatic, but his hand closes on empty air. He frowns, wondering groggily if he’s rolled to the side of the bed, but when he opens his eyes he’s not even  _in_ their bed, he’s in a single bed with white sheets, and god knows how many times he’s opened his eyes to these surroundings.

 _Medical_ , his brain supplies sluggishly, and he wets his cracked lips and hears someone- Bruce- say, “Steve?”

"Did we win," Steve mumbles, trying to get back the last few hours. The last thing he remembers-

At first there’s nothing, a haze of grey, but then snippets start coming back to him and then there’s a flood of memories, Steve tapping in the key to Tony’s workshop, Steve not returning the smile Tony shoots at him, Steve walking right over and seeing Tony’s expression flicker, seeing his own fist rise to clench around Tony’s throat-

Steve bolts up in his bed, and he feels an IV yanking in protest, but he can’t bring himself to care. “Oh, god, is he, what did I-“

"Tony’s- fine," Bruce assures him, and Steve shudders at the pause. "You were under a spell, Steve."

Steve wets his lips again. They feel drier than they did the first time. “Take me to him.”

Bruce hesitates again, and it’s awful, and Steve hears the impact of his fist on Tony’s jaw, remembers how it felt breaking under his knuckles.

 _God_.

But then Bruce is nodding, and Steve is already out of bed, reaching for his clothes.

 

 

 

The doorframe is crushed under Steve’s hands when his gaze lands on Tony in his hospital bed. He thinks he makes a choked noise, torn from the back of his throat.

"It’s not as bad as it looks," Bruce tries.

Steve can’t even manage a chuckle. “Yeah, I bet that’s what he’ll say.” Steve swallows, doesn’t look over at Bruce as he asks, “Has he woken up?”

"He has. He was in a coma for a few hours, but then he woke up and talked our heads off. He should be fine now."

Steve’s mind sticks on the word  _should_.

Pepper and the rest of the Avengers are sitting in plastic chairs around Tony’s hospital bed, minus Thor. Steve can’t muster up the effort to return their subdued nods of greeting.

He peels his fingers from the dents he’s made in the doorfame that he supposes he’ll feel guilty over later, and makes his way over to a chair next to Pepper and collapses into it harder than he means to. It creaks ominously underneath his weight, and none of the others say anything. Their silence is a weight that presses down on Steve’s shoulders, crushing him further into the chair.

Pepper’s lips are thin, but there’s nothing bad towards Steve in her eyes when she looks at him. “You’ve stood up for Bucky a hundred times, saying it wasn’t his fault for what he did as the Winter Soldier.”

"It wasn’t."

"We know," Clint says from the other side of Tony’s bed. He shrugs. "Just making sure you weren’t doing anything stupid, like blaming yourself anyway."

Steve clenches his jaw against how his eyes are blurring with tears, sucking in a breath. “Guys, I’m a supersoldier. I break plates if I hold them too tight doing the dishes. I break punching bags if they aren’t reinforced. I could break him, if I-“ 

His hands clench around his knees. “I didn’t hold back,” he chokes out. “I remember, I put everything into it.”

"You only got in one punch," Natasha says, and her voice is blanker than usual, like it always is when someone she knows gets mind-controlled. "JARVIS called-"

"One punch is enough," Steve says. "I’ve killed people with less."

He looks Tony over, and remembers watching him do it while some still-conscious part of his mind screamed and pounded on the inside of his skull. He had punched Tony in the face, knocking him out, splitting his lip open and breaking his jaw and causing half his face to swell bright purple. It had propelled Tony backwards into his work table, spilling tools. Then Steve had grabbed Tony around the neck and squeezed for several seconds until Thor had tackled him to the floor. 

He remembers watching from the floor, watching Tony’s knees give out underneath him, watching Tony’s head crack against the concrete.

"Remind me to thank Thor later," Steve says, and Pepper’s laugh is watery. 

"He’s at the vending machines."

"Speaking of which," Bruce says from the doorway, "I think we should leave these two alone for a while."

He doesn’t specify which two, but everyone but Steve gets up and starts for the door. Steve continues to watch the rise and fall of Tony’s chest, the steady, constant glow of the reactor that is the only reason Steve sleeps on some nights.

"He should wake up soon," Bruce says, and Steve nods and then he hears the door close and their footsteps go down the hallway. Some of them linger, sitting outside the room, and Steve wonders distantly if they’re expecting him to start punching Tony again.

He watches Tony breathe, examines the puffy, swollen side of Tony’s face, the bloody lip, the bandage around his jaw. Steve tries to imagine Tony eating through a straw, and he can imagine Tony’s complaints like he’s already said them.

When Tony’s eyes finally crack open, Steve’s breath catches. “ _Tony_.”

"Steve," Tony says, his jaw stiff with bandages, halting the movement along with his smile. "Hey."

"Hey," Steve says, and is reaching out to take his hand before stopping, unsure his touch would be welcome. He’s relieved when Tony reaches instead, taking Steve’s hand and linking their fingers.

"I’m so sorry," Steve chokes, his voice breaking around it, and Tony makes a noise like a groan.

"Oh my god, shut up. I’m fine, we all get mind-controlled at some point, it’s not your fault. There. All better?"

Steve laughs, and it’s flimsy as hell. “Not even close,” he says, unable to take his eyes away from the damage he’s caused. 

Tony snorts, and squeezes their linked fingers. “You can make it up to me later. First thing I’m expecting after we get home is a blowjob, Rogers.”

"First thing you’re gonna get is painkillers, Stark."

"And then a blowjob?"

"And then a blowjob," Steve agrees, and leans forwards to brush his lips over the mostly-undamaged half of Tony’s mouth. Then his mouth twists, trembles hard, and Tony murmurs Steve’s name as he raises their linked hands to wipe the tears off Tony’s face.

"I’m so sorry," Steve says, barely whispering it, unsure he’d be able to without his voice cracking horribly, and turns their hands so he can kiss Tony’s palm, using his other hand to brush against the raised finger-marks around Tony’s neck. "I’m so sorry they used me to do this to you, I promised I’d never hurt you."

"Not your fault," Tony tells him. "Steve? This isn’t your fault."

"I know, I just-"

"Blowjob," Tony says, and it’s terrible, an awful attempt at trying to derail them back to feeble jokes, but Steve laughs anyway.

"Right. You hold me to that."

"I will," Tony says, and tries to wiggle his eyebrows suggestively. It doesn’t work, because he’s on a lot of painkillers and half his face is swollen so it makes him wince.

Steve kisses the unhurt side of his mouth and listens to Tony breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> here's my [tumblr](http://theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com/).


End file.
